Generally lighting consoles which are used to control lighting systems in theatrical settings or other venues can provide realtime effects which is the ability to modulate control channel attributes with low-frequency realtime waveforms to achieve dynamic looks without having to program a sequence of lighting cues. Generally a static lighting look is established in a single cue and the realtime component is overlayed onto each control channel to a depth controlled by an amplitude parameter. The current state of the art adds a set of realtime attributes to each control channel to affect how the modulation is applied. The set of extra attributes are attributes such as:                waveshape: e.g. sine, cosine, square, sawtooth, pyramid, etc,        frequency (rate): cycles of the waveshape which are iterated per second,        amplitude: the depth of modulation, ie how much of the realtime component is added to the underlying static value,        offset: a phase offset from a notional base value which allows individual channels to be modulated by different points along the waveshape at the same instant in time.        
In prior art systems, as an example, to achieve a circle effect the pan channel can have a sine wave overlayed and the tilt channel can have a cosine wave overlayed. Provided that both channels have the same rate and same amplitude, the two signals combine to make the light describe a circle around the original centre point (the centre point being the static base look before modulation is applied). To take this further: if there were 10 light fixtures all aiming at the same centre point and with the same waveshape rate and amplitude attributes, they could be made to all follow the same point along the circle by keeping their offset attributes identical. If the desired look was for the points to be spread out along the circle, each individual light could adjust the offset values of the pan & tilt channels by an individual amount; e.g. #1 has 0% offset (for both pan & tilt), #2 has 10% offset, #3 has 20% offset and so on.
Sequencing type effects such as intensity or shutter chases can also be achieved using this technology but only to a limited degree. For example, to achieve an intensity chase on a set of 8 lights, a square waveform with a 1:8 mark:space ratio needs to be provided by the implementation. This waveform is applied to the intensity channel of each light and each is assigned an offset value spaced apart by 16.6%. If the requirement is for a chase over 11 lights or over 7 lights then an appropriate and specific waveshape needs to be available for this purpose (with suitable mark:space ratios, e.g. 1:11 or 1:7).
Fundamentally the limitations with the existing state of the art stem from the fact that each modulating attribute exists in complete isolation from other attributes which together combine to achieve the desired look. It is up to the user interface to try and set up the attribute values in such a way so that the synchronization is established that results in the desired effect.